Dennis W. Birks Jr., chairman of the Resources and Capacity Building Committee of the Holyoke School Committee.Michael S. Gordon, The Republican

The School Department budget is $91 million, including $64.5 million in city money along with state funding and grants. The Resources and Capacity Building Committee has Ward 3 member Dennis W. Birks Jr. as chairman along with William R. Collamore, Ward 6, John P. Brunelle, Ward 5, and Erin B. Brunelle, Ward 7.

The committee deals with spending items, develops the proposed budget and reviews requests for proposals issued to vendors for busing and food service, Sheehan said.

The chairman of the Leadership, Accountability and Measurement Committee is Erin Brunelle. Other members are Cesar A. Lopez, Ward 4, Birks and whomever is chosen by a joint meeting on Feb. 4 of the City Council and School Committee to an at large seat on the board, he said.

The committee develops the process to evaluate the superintendent, monitors student attendance, graduation and dropout rates and reviews curriculum, he said.

Lopez is chairman of the Communications and Policies Committee, which includes Mildred Lefebvre, Ward 1, Collamore and the pending at large member, he said.

John Brunelle is co-chairman, with Ward 1 City Councilor Gladys Lebron-Martinez, of the Joint School Committee-City Council Committee. Other school board members on that panel are Rosalee Tensley Williams, Ward 2, and Lefebvre, he said.

The committee is intended to help communication between the two boards and keep its members informed about issues the boards are considering.

As with the City Council, committee meetings of the School Committee are where discussions on specific issues take place at length, with committees having authority only to recommend an action to the full School Committee.

"You can kind of lose some of the formality (of School Committee sessions) and just discuss," Sheehan said.